An exciting introduction to reading! The instructor writes a simple, one-line story on the board from literature, and the students learn to sound out the words.
This activity introduces letter blends both with index cards/flashcards and reenforcement with students highlighting the blends on individual word lists.
Builds students' abilities to identify the sound of a letter and say if a word begins with that sound. The student spins a wheel and says what letter/sound it stops on. Then they find a picture that begins with that sound. This site includes links to pictures to print!
An activity that can be adapted for the whole class, small group, or large group. The instructor first reviews a letter and its sound, then presents the group with a poem with that letter that the students will then identify.
Expand your reading activity by having students write a letter to a character in the book.
A small group game to practice word and sound recognition and accuracy. Students pull cards with word parts printed on them out of a hat and if they can put it together and sound it out accurately they keep the card.
An activity teaching the short vowel sounds and how they are used in a sentence. The students put together sentences that are cut apart and then identify the sounds of the targeted vowel.
This site contains a flexible activity that teaches students how to "catch" or identify the final sound of a word.
A teacher-led activity that helps students learn to isolate the initial sounds of words.
A great fun activity to use with students to practice fluency and word families.
A wonderful site full of tips for teaching the skills of sounding out words. This site has a plethora of links that provide an excellent way to practice and memorize the essential skills of sounding out words. The links using every letter of the alphabet also contain videos of teachers in the classroom demonstrating how to do the activities.
A classroom game to help students create new words from a particular word family. The class is divided into two teams; the first student in each line is given a flyswatter and must go to the board and "swat" the correct letter that begins the word the teacher has said.
Mix up reading time by having your own students transform into guest readers. Have students act out the book, read, or show illustrations.
A teacher-led activity that helps students learn to isolate initial sounds of words. Students match pictures according to the initial sounds of the words that the pictures represent.
This extensive site has links to games and activities that teach students to read 30 high-frequency irregular words. There are over 20 activities and games at the bottom of the site in additional to sequenced irregular word activities. The site also contains links to printable word cards, activity logs, and lists of additional irregular words.
Great small group and whole class lessons on introducing, reintroducing, building fluency, and building accuracy for letter combinations.
This invaluable site helps instructors teach students how to handwrite each letter of the alphabet. It includes the amsti sequence to introduce letters, followed by fluency-building activities and accuracy-building activities. Additional activities are located at the bottom of the first page of the site.
This page contains audios of sounds for single letters. The audios give the letter sound and then pronounce a word that uses that sound. It gives only the short vowel sounds. The sounds are pronounced in a North American accent.
A quick activity to reinforce the students' ability to recognize different sounds. When calling children to line up or go to lunch, substitute the letter or sound of the day for the first letter of the child's name. Till, Tuzy, Tob, and Tane for Jill, Suzy, Rob, and Jane. Make sure that resulting names are appropriate!
This site contains activities for Phonemic Awareness. They provide activities for students to learn to identify and manipulate phonemes.